Tag Archives: Microbiome

This is particularly important when discussing ginseng since it helps explain why previous studies have yielded contradictory or inconclusive results when studying the affects of ginseng on a study group. Not only does American ginseng itself vary significantly based on its genetic lineage and environmental rearing, but the study subjects themselves have variant microbiomes that produce different, sometimes opposite, results. Undoubtedly this process is it play in other herbs and medicines as well.

Doctors and patients alike should be thoughtful about starting antibiotics—not only because of the well-publicized resistant bacteria that are proliferating thanks to overuse of those drugs, but also because, a new study illustrates, there could be serious consequences for the individual. As well as for, you know, humanity in general.

Scientists suspect our intestinal community of microbes, the human microbiota, calibrates our immune and metabolic function, and that its corruption or depletion can increase the risk of chronic diseases, ranging from asthma to obesity. One might think that if we coevolved with our microbes, they’d be more or less the same in healthy humans everywhere. But that’s not what the scientists observed.”

The data analysis revealed a high level of variability in glucose responses to identical meals among participants. Because they standardized some of the meals, the researchers were able to verify that the glucose response to the same meal for the same person at the same time of day was consistent—yet between participants, responses to the same meal could be very different.

“The best estimates suggest that fully half of antibiotic prescriptions may be unnecessary.” Based on my experience I would put that number closer to 70%.

“A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that doctors treat 71 percent of bronchitis cases with treated antibiotics. They know this is wrong because bronchitis is usually caused by viruses. Yet they prescribe antibiotics anyway, usually at the patient’s behest.”

“Meal times have more effect on circadian rhythm than dark and light cycles … and circadian rhythm in turn affects the function of many genes in the body”, is a line from the previous article I shared on the importance of eating on a regular schedule.

Of all the health management practices one could consider there are few more important than observing this regularity.

There are plenty of concerns in the field of applied microbes for agriculture. One is whether any product that is successful on one farm will be equally successful on another. Then there’s the concern about releasing microbes into new environments, which means that regulatory agencies are demanding extensive environmental tests before certifying new products. Ian Sanders believes—he’s sure—that these microbes will be critical to meeting the world’s future food needs.

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Justin is a scholar and clinician of Classical Chinese Medicine living in San Diego, California, where he maintains a private practice specializing in stress, gastrointestinal, infertility, and autoimmune conditions.